Resin roof slates

[Caecilius]

I'm going to be staring a new build of a small two bedroomed house soon.

The roof tiles need to be slate to match the other houses in the road. I want to find out the cheapest type of slate I can use, and where to get them from. I think resin or fibreglass slates will be the best, but I can't find any online prices, and a search on builder's merchants sites (like Jewsons) doesn't turn up much.

I'll also need to get three slates to deposit with the council to discharge one of the planning conditions. What's the best way to get just three slates before I start building? I don't want to buy all the tiles just yet. Will a builder's merchant sell tiles singly? Will they give free samles for this kind of thing?

[Nightjar]

When I looked at this, some years ago now, surprisingly enough it worked out cheapest to buy brand new Welsh slate direct from Greaves Slate Mines. Even driving up from SE England and including the cost of two people staying overnight, it worked out significantly cheaper than anything I could buy locally, although I had my own truck and did not need to hire one.

Colin Bignell

[chris French]

In message , Caecilius writes

I have found slate prices online before, - here is an example, thought presumably prices are also dependant on quantity. For samples finding a local roofing suplliers (as opposed to general BM) probably your best bet. Yes, they will sell you a single one (well my local place does)

Though for my money no synhetic slate looks right.

At least one person here has suggested that the cheapest way was to go an buy direct from the quarry in Wales

[Dave Liquorice]

I have my doubts, decent slate will last 100+ years. Will a resin based thing survive the UV for that long? I guess as you want the cheapest you are not planning to retain the building but flog it ASAP and pocket as much cash as possible. The poor quality roof then becomes Someone Elses Problem. As a buyer I'd be wary of a synthetic roof when real slate could have been used.

There maybe a reason for that...

The ones aroud here will sell you as many or as few slates as you want. I bought a dozen last year from a local builders merchant.

[Weatherlawyer]

I worked on the sea front at Prestatyn -a really windy place, they put up a metal sheet roof with an imitation slate look. It fooled me even though I was standing on scaffold looking at it. I think Redland brought out the first resin slate. They used that in Wales too so it was a good imitation. You could stand on them. I placed one on a brick and gave it some welly.

Obviously resin is suspect. But even slate delaminates, that is why it is so ubiquitous for roofs. The resin wil last as long as tiles as I have never heard of it failing since I first used them in the early

1980s and tiles are supposed to last only about 30 years, about the same as thatch.

Resin slates are as easy to fix as tiles. A slater can throw on ordinary slates but an amateur will have a tough time keeping them straight. The resin ones had a step in them to fit one to another. so keeping the lines right was fairly easy.

[Caecilius]

Yes, I don't plan to keep the house very long after it's complete - probably rent out for a few years and then sell it if/when the housing market picks up. I don't want something that will fall to bits in five years, but 100+ years is not necessary.

To put it in perspective, it's an attached two-bedroom house on the end of a terrace. The other houses are 1930s ex council houses with pebbledashed walls and slate roofs. I don't need the best welsh slate for this job.

The buyer will be getting the best house in the street because it will be to current building regs and will have a nice rendered/painted exterior rather than 70-year-old council pebbledash. Well, assuming no major c*ck-up - this is my first self-build project so fingers crossed.

[Caecilius]

I didn't know about fibre cement slates. I'll take a look at those as well.

Thanks for the tip.

[Nightjar]

Nevertheless, I still suggest you look into it. When I bought slate direct from the mine, it was the cheapest option. Local suppliers were charging silly prices for second hand Italian slate and for slate substitutes. The Welsh slate also had the advantage that, because of the quality, it was easier and quicker to lay and there was less wastage, which also helped to keep the cost down.

Colin Bignell

[stuart noble]

IIRC the different thicknesses you get with slate makes it more difficult for the d-i-yer

[Dave Plowman (News)]

They're very common round here from the time the council dished out repair grants. Perhaps 30 years ago or more. Some makes have discoloured, others not.

How good they look also depends on the front fixing. On some it is more obvious than others.

My roof was done over 20 years ago with them and now the moss has got going looks very good. ;-) I dunno what make mine are, though. But haven't discoloured.

[stuart noble]

Mostly Marley round here. I must say they look pretty weird when the sun catches them

[Nightjar]

I suspect you only get noticeable variations in thickness if you buy poor quality or second hand slates. The slate I bought was very consistent and particularly easy to knock nail holes in cleanly. I had ordered all the slates to finished size, so didn't have to cut any, but likely that would have been much easier too.

Colin Bignell

[Phil L]

Is there any reason why you can't just use reclaimed slates?

They are widely available at roofing and builders merchants and will look like they've been there for the same length of time as the others in the street.

The planners will happily accept these

[stuart noble]

Except that 25% or so will probably be naff IME. It's not until the roofer tests them for a "ring" that you know they're any good.

[Caecilius]

Mainly because I'd not thought of it! I've never bought slates before, only concrete tiles, so it's a bit new to me.

I'll have a look at the reclaimed slate option.

[Jim Hawkins]

I bought 1080 Chinese 20 X 10 slates from Roofslates of Ashton-under-Lyne.com two years ago. They are superb quality, 9mm thick, very uniform and very well crated (not a single one was broken). They're a lighter grey than Welsh ones, but in my opinion at least as good. They cost £1.15 each then. How does that price compares with yours ?

Jim Hawkins

[Nightjar]

As I said, it was some years ago, so even if I remembered the price, it would not mean much now. I just know it was cheaper than buying reclaimed, artificial or Italian slate locally. I don't think Chinese slate was an option at the time.

Colin Bignell

[Phil L]

You must have got a bad load - I've never had more than a few out of each hundred that were unusable, and IIRC, I took those back and swapped them for good ones